Moody Electro
Coming from a background of hardcore (Give Up The Ghost/American Nightmare/Some Girls) front-man Wesley Eisold brings an interesting angle to these synth driven tunes. Dark and slightly discordant, but also melodic and poppy, Eisold’s vocal delivery brings to mind The National’s Matt Berninger (but not quite as deep a baritone) and Caralee McElroy (ex-Xiu Xiu) speaks over tracks in a spoken-word style. The tracks here often have a rock feel even though there are three synths and just the one guitar.
The album holds plenty of catchy melodies and the distorted fuzz alternates with squidgy electro beeps softening the hard edges somewhat; some tracks are reminiscent of New Order with an almost straight forward pop edge but there is always something strange and dark lurking underneath or round the corner; odd noises filter through like a radio tuned to two channels at once. The effect is not distracting however, in fact it can be oddly soothing, like the repetitive crunchy distortion on ‘Life Magazine’, with its floaty vocal echoes, which gives a looping fuzzy effect that becomes hypnotic and even though the subject matter of the lyrics covers some heavy duty subject matter (alienation, nihilism, desolation and all manner of other happy, fluffy things) it never really becomes melancholic, just atmospheric and moody.
“Love Comes Close” delivers addictive tunes, and a dark experimental edge; while it’s not all fun and games, the album is one you will come back to and it definitely satisfies those introspective moods. Plenty to discover and never a slow moment